Income-tax officials raided the premises of the businesses of TR Pachamuthu, the media-shy entrepreneur with interests primarily in education and who in recent years has diversified into a host of sectors, most visibly media.

Taxmen conducted the raids at 45 locations of the SRM group of companies, which Pachamuthu owns. Details of the raids weren't available when the story went to print.

In March this year, Pachamuthu and Ravi Pachamuthu, one of his two sons, had sought anticipatory bail following a notice issued by the CBI's Anti-Corruption Branch, which wanted to question them on the issue of capitation fee. They denied taking capitation fee and were granted bail.

Pachamuthu's flagship business is education. Starting his career as a tuition teacher, he moved on to start a school and then a private engineering college way back in 1985, when they were far and few in the state.

Tamil Nadu is virtually awash with private colleges running engineering and management courses. In this oversupply situation, institutions such as SRM and VIT have managed to be top-of-mind for students from outside the state, especially.

Over the years, his SRM University has grown to offer everything from engineering to medicine, management to science and humanities, having over 30,000 students, 80% of whom come from outside Tamil Nadu.